Monday, June 02, 2008

It is in Ireland’s Hands Now

Here are two videos concerned with the EU’s “Lisbon Treaty.” Following them is an essay from Wise Up Journal, which focuses on some of the choicer laws from the Treaty that Europe has to look forward to.

From You Tube, January, 2008

Chicken Run in the EU Parliament


Also from January, 2008

Training Day on the Lisbon Treaty in Dublin

It’s coming down to the wire for Ireland to vote on the EU referendum. When you think about it, the fate of half a billion people in Europe hanging on the referendum from one tiny island is crazy. It wouldn’t be like this if the craven parliamentarians in other countries had allowed their citizens a say in their own fate. But they didn’t, so now it’s up to Ireland.

Below is a post by Greg O’Brien, taken from the Wise Up Journal in April of this year. He calls his essay, “The Lord Giveth…and the EU Charter of Rights Taketh Away”.

In his title alone, he sums up the crux of the EU problem - its hubris. The EU wants citizens under its purview to believe that their rights devolve from the benign generosity of the EU. They do not originate there, and they never will. What the EU is attempting is usurpation and enslavement.

  • Our liberty derives from the fact that we are human beings.
  • Our freedom to pursue our own course in life derives from our humanity, also.
  • Our very lives are not dependent on the whims and laws of the state, for our existence is a priori to any state mandate.

Along with our a priori liberties we also assume responsibilities, and it is those duties, and those alone, that legitimate law is designed to address.
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The EU is founded on the long-discredited theories of scarcity and the remnant ideologies that first saw life in the bloody French Revolution. These are the ghosts in the machine that drive this current evil grab for power.

I hope the Irish stick their collective thumb in the eye of the Lisbon Giveaway.

Meanwhile, here is a brief glimpse into the "Treaty" from Mr. O'Brien:

“The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights sets out in a single text, for the first time in the European Union’s history, the whole range of civil, political, economic and social rights of European citizens and all persons resident in the EU.

They are based, in particular, on the fundamental rights and freedoms recognised by the European Convention on Human Rights ECHR).”

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

It all sounds wonderful doesn’t it, that is until you actually look at the details and see that just like the Patriot Act in America it does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to do. To find out its true intent you have to essentially read it back-to-front. Just like the Lisbon Treaty, all the wonderful stuff is put in at the beginning and all the real intent is saved for the end or masked in protocols, legal explanations etc. Most people won’t read it all (or even just read a summary text), and people who have only read the good parts trust the rest will be similar, they then go ahead voting without understanding the full implications. If you set a utopian tone at the beginning, psychologically we assume that is how the entire text will read and we tend to block out conflicting messages later on, otherwise know as cognitive dissonance.

When you read it “back to front”, you get some disturbing results. Here are a few examples from the ECHR to give you the real intent from the official EU Charter of Fundamental Rights website:

[bolded text is added by the author.]

Article 2. Right to Life

a) Article 2(2) of the ECHR:

Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:

  • in defence of any person from lawful violence;
  • in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;
  • in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection.’”

The EU says that if the state’s law enforcement officers can deprive you of your right of life, in other words murder you, while attempting to arrest you or during a riot, and legally your execution “shall not be regarded’ as breaking the law/article of the right to life. How many times do we have to be reminded that not reading slick lawyer “small print” can be perilous?

“b) Article 2 of the Protocol No 6 to the ECHR:

‘A State may make provision in its law for the death penalty in respect of acts committed in time of war or of imminent threat of war; such a penalty shall be applied only in the instances laid down in the law and in accordance with its provisions…”

That’s right the EU endorses the Death Penalty!!! You may have never heard that before when listening to the politicians or media glorifying the EU but there it is in black and white on their official website. Individuals can be given the death penalty for “acts committed” (who decides what these acts) in a time of war or of even the threat of war (war on terrorism).

Now here is the nice intro that politician’s can promote:

“1. Everyone has the right to life.

2. No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed.”

Article 52 of the EU Charter of Fundamental rights also states the level/scope of them and that a “limitation on the exercise of the rights and freedoms” can be made “provided for by law” (those “small prints”). It also goes a step further by saying “limitations may be made“ if it is in the EU’s ‘interest’ (define interest?).

Article 52

1. Any limitation on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognised by this Charter must be provided for by law and respect the essence of those rights and freedoms. Subject to the principle of proportionality, limitations may be made only if they are necessary and genuinely meet objectives of general interest recognised by the Union or the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others.”

Next we look at liberty, you would think the EU would be all for personal freedom, after all it promotes itself as caring for the citizens and being an example for the rest of the world, but again we find more lies. Here is the “small print” for restrictions to be placed upon you:

Art 6. Right to liberty and security

(d) the detention of a minor by lawful order for the purpose of educational supervision or his lawful detention for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority;

(e) the lawful detention of persons for the prevention of the spreading of infectious diseases, of persons of unsound mind, alcoholics or drug addicts or vagrants;”

And here is the easy to read selling point for public consumption:

“1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:”

Next comes free speech, of course the EU must be a guardian of free speech, after all we’re told that we in the west have levels of free speech unheard of in the rest of the world. That free speech is the cornerstone of a free and democratic society, but again if we look at the text we get a completely different picture:

Art 11. Freedom of expression and information

2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”

Again the nice show piece intro:

“1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.”

The EU has documented in it’s protocols, legal explanations etc that it endorses the death penalty, not punishing law enforcers that kill a person during arrest, killing people for rioting, detaining alcoholics, detaining minors for educational supervision, and restricting speech for protection of disclosure of information, morals, maintaining the authority, reputation…

They say that in the former USSR people had a highly developed mistrust of the government and knew that most of the news they read in the papers or seen on the TV was a complete distortion of the truth. The public learned how to interpret the truth by reading between the lines and reversing what was being said. We in the EU have been asleep and naively trusting of politicians and the media for so long that we haven’t developed these skills of discernment. We have taken too much for granted but we cannot afford to do this any longer. We are sleepwalking into a nightmare and unless we start waking up very quickly, it will be too late. A NO vote in Ireland to the Lisbon Treaty can actually stop the charter from becoming legally binding and save half a billion people from living under it.

6 comments:

ZZMike said...

I'm reminded of the Chinese Constitution, which guarantees all sorts of human (and humane) rights (such as freedom of religion).

Britain, on the other hand, worked quite well (up until a while ago) with no written constitution at all.

Someone pointed out that a constitution is no better or stronger than the government which backs it.

In the case of the EU, we have an Orwellian constitution which will be backed by an equally Owellian government - in other words, the worst possible case.

Ireland is the most prosperous country on that side of the Atlantic, and I'm confident that they won't be taken in by the snake-oil salesmen.

Early on, Mr Farage says that the opponents are labeled as unbalanced - almost exactly the same charge brought by the Global Warming fundamentalists against those who disagree with them.

Diamed said...

Ain't that the truth. A constitution no matter how well written can be suddenly construed to mean the exact opposite of what it says.

Alternatively, people who are used to customary good treatment would revolt against any tyrant without a single law written down anywhere.

Perhaps a constitution is better than nothing, but nothing can replace the virtue of your nation's citizens. Everything depends on how they are raised and what is expected, what is traditional, what is demanded by the people towards the government, and each other. The fact is nothing is expected of people anymore, and so they live selfish and degenerate lives. Meanwhile the government isn't held to any remote standard--it can't even control the border--but people complacently shrug it off. This is the recipe for disaster no amount of ink on paper can remedy.

Alternatively, whether the EU constitution is signed or not, the facts remain the same. You have exactly as many rights as you're willing to fight for. The EU can oppress you with or without a legal excuse, so long as you allow it. I don't really see this passing changing anything either for the worse or the better. Aren't all native Europeans being oppressed by their national governments already?

randian said...

Even if Ireland rejects Lisbon, isn't the EU still merrily chugging along making ever more numerous new laws to tax, regulate, harass, and impoverish its citizens? Won't they still be completely unaccountable to the host countries? Won't the EUcrats still be busily stuffing their bank accounts whether or not Lisbon passes? What prevents them from proposing a new treaty that does the same thing as Lisbon but only requires majority rather than unanimous vote? Other than control of national military assets, it's not clear what Lisbon gives the EU that it doesn't already have. Thinking about that some more, I don't see any other point to it. What really keeps member states nominally independent is their military, who are likely to be hesitant if told to engage their countrymen. If instead you go to a Soviet style system, where soldiers from region A are stationed in region B, the EU military will have no compunction about doing that.

spackle said...

I know I am a bit slow but why arent Europeans protesting in the streets by the thousands? They cant ALL be for the treaty? Is it apathy? Has the media been so biased that NO true information has slipped through? The Irish had to save civilization once before. Lets hope they can do it again.

Henrik R Clausen said...

why arent Europeans protesting in the streets by the thousands?

Good question. The mere complexity of the subject is daunting, and people are duped by material richness to not worry too much about possible deceptive ploys, but are instead used to trusting their politicians.

It's a bit similar to the situation with Islam 10, or even 5, years ago. A few people have identified the problem, but the message is so surprising to journalists and the general public that it takes a lot of groundwork to seed the ground first.

Many seem to have lost the understanding of how democracy works, too, and our politicians have been turned to seeking 'compromises' (read: "Give away what's important") over standing for their people and countries.

We're in for quite a few challenges. Next will be referendums in Denmark about our opt-outs, coming this fall.

Unknown said...

I think the Referendum will pass in Ireland. Reading The Irish Times as I do every day is depressing. The No campaign are spun as an irrational fringe movement.

Meanwhile people write Letters to the Editor every day saying they don't understand what the Referendum is about.